Kitty327 : Epi 2 : Secrets Not Forgotten
by BattyBigSister
Summary: A mysterious serial killer is lose in Seattle, but Max and Alec find themselves usurped by two other transgenics in Eyes Only missons, but one of them has a dark secret of her own ...
1. Chapter 1 Bar Scene

SECRETS NOT FORGOTTEN 

**Series: Kitty 327**

**Episode: 2**

**Title: Secrets Not Forgotten**

**Author: Big Sister**

**Rating: PG-13**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel. Sadly.**

**Description: Sequel to Miracles Lost. People are dropping like flies in Seattle at the hand of a mysterious serial killer, but Max and Alec find themselves usurped by two other transgenics and Kitty has a dark secret of her own.**

**Couples: I _suppose_ 'K/L' but that's not a lovey dovey romantic thing, it's downright sickening actually – and by the by – that 'L' isn't Logan either. And both M/A _and_ M/L.**

**Timeline: Anytime after 'Some Assembly Required', but before 'Freak Nation', but obviously after the prequel to this story 'Miracles Lost', (although you don't need to read that before this if you don't want to – it's just background and stuff)**

**Author's Note:** Yes, I changed the X3's barcodes in the rewrite of Miracles Lost, so you'll find the _BARCODES in CHAPTER 4 have CHANGED_, thank you.

Chapter 1 

"So where's this place you wanted to go?" Max whined, squirming in her seat.

"Yeah, it had better be worth it!" Alec added behind her, "_If we were going to Crash_ beaten Sketchy at pool at least four times and found myself some attractive female company by now."

"Shut up!" Max snapped.

However, they weren't going to Crash. Logan had turned up out of the blue at Jam Pony at the end of their shift, announced that he wanted to try a new bar tonight, packed the two transgenics in his car and set off to some unknown destination … that was beginning to look like it might be somewhere on the other side of town. 

"So this 'new bar' that's so important all of a sudden? Is there an Eyes Only informant waiting there?" Alec asked sarcastically, leading back in his seat and folding his hands behind his head, "Or is it just that the beer's cheaper?"

"**_Shut Up_**!" Max yelled, even bitchier than usual – because, unfortunately for him, Alec had touched a nerve. She didn't think Logan would be travelling to a new bar to simply enjoy himself either.

 Then Logan surprised them both, "The only informants I'm meeting there are you two, and yes, since I know the owner, the beer's cheaper."

"Since when do you care about the price of beer?" Alec asked, "Max normally pays for you anyway."

"Do not!" the lady in question cried out.

"Sure you do. _'Here Logan, have a drink for beating Alec at pool'_"

"I never said that!" Max cried, "And that only actually happened once and I nearly killed him in the pro**c**ess."

"_Aren't you done with that paperwork yet? Okay fine, but at least have a glass of beer!"_

"I never said _that_ either!"

"No? Only … um … three times this week!"

"**SHUT UP!**"****

"Just because you know it's true …"

Max reached back to slap him, but the car stopped suddenly making her lose her balance. Only for a split second, mind you, but that was enough for Alec's enhanced reflexes to kick in and help him dodge the blow.

"We're here!" Logan said, getting out of the car.

"Finally!" Alec sighed and this time he failed to see Max's hand coming. He felt the beginnings of a bruise on his shoulder. "Ouch! Watch it, Maxie!" … but she was already out of the car.

Max couldn't believe her eyes, when she followed Logan through the door of the bar. She hadn't seen a place so clean since … well … since last time she had been in Logan's penthouse, which was yesterday evening actually … but still … it was like the pulse never happened; the paint on the walls wasn't cracked or peeling, there were no marks on the metal tabletops, the cushioning on the seats wasn't frayed – heck – there _was_ cushioning on the seats! But the few customers dotted round the place looked like ordinary people, not rich pimps looking for a place to squander money with other rich pimps. She could see why Logan liked it here.

The three of them (Alec had finally caught up) made their way over to the bar. "Pitcher of beer," Logan said to the bar-keep, "And a private booth please."

She was a slim woman in her early thirties, with long light-brown hair that fell all over her face despite her efforts to keep it platted. The woman smiled at Logan as soon as she saw him, "Oh hi Logan. Take the booth in the corner over there. People tend to stay over here close to the music, so you shouldn't be disturbed. And this is on the house – seeing as I still owe you." She handed him a jug full of the foaming amber liquid and three glasses.

One of her other patrons at the bar snorted into his drink, "Lord almighty! I've come here every night since this place opened – and she hasn't ever given me no beer on the house!" He was a very big, very muscular man with striking hazel eyes – very similar to the barkeep's, "And I'm her twin brother at that!"

"You haven't been as helpful, brother dearest!" the woman snapped and rolled her eyes at Logan, "Can't get the family these days. Here."

He just smiled back and took the beer over to the indicated booth, with two speechless transgenics at his heels.

"Who the hell is she?" Max burst out disgusted.

"What kind of a _favour_ did you do for her?" Alec added, slowly remembering how to close his mouth.

"Helped her find a missing relative," Logan said calmly, pouring the beer, "Now about these files I wanted to show you. A source came up with some info on the head of one of the major pharmaceutical companies in town. Looks like he's trading some drugs to addicts on the black market, but I can't find any proof of it. I need you two to break into the Companies Headquarters and …"

"Why couldn't we discuss this at Crash?" Max interrupted.

"You know why! Too risky! Sketchy and the Original Cindy would've been there, and probably Asha as well, who are all not supposed to know about me being..."

"Then why not at your place?" Alec added, fixing Logan with a piercing glare.

"Because I happen to like the beer here." 

"_Really?_" Max growled.

"Yeah really." Logan added, his voice sounded hurt, but Max was ignoring that.

"Sure! After all this time – there's no need to lie to me, Logan, I can take it."

"Take what?" Logan cried confused, "I'm telling the truth!"

"Fine!" she turned away a bitter look on her face.

"Fine!" Logan snapped, and looked at the other transgenic, "Will you handle this for me, Alec? Just till our favourite _but totally_ _unreasonable _hot-head over there calms down?"

Max snorted, still not looking at them, "That's almost a compliment coming from a _heartless soulless_ …"

Alec interrupted her, "No thanks! I'm not getting dragged into this."

"Fine," Logan sighed, turning his own attention towards the fairly distant bar, "Kitty!"

Alec raised an eyebrow. Logan couldn't possibly expect to be heard all the way over there. No ordinary person could hear that well.

The barkeep could apparently. She looked up from where she had been serving a customer and caught Logan's eye. Waving for the barmaid to cover for her, she moved over to Logan's booth.

"Problem?"

"Yeah, I've got an Eyes Only mission to run, but apparently my two _friends_ here, don't seem to be able to see past their selfish little lives and …"

"What is it?"

"Just need you to break in here and download a couple of files for me." He handed her a paper file he had brought in with him. She scanned it briefly before putting it back down on the table.

"I'll be back in half-an-hour. Tell Sally to get you guys another pitcher to last till then."

"Thanks."

"No problem. You scratch my back and all that …" She had already vanished back to the bar before Logan could reply. They saw her have a brief conversation with her brother and the barmaid, before disappearing through the door with the muscular man in tow.

"_What the hell was that?!"_ Max asked.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

In a different part of the city, old Jessie Harris stumbled home from work in the pouring rain. She was tired and cold and wet through and wanted nothing more than to slip into a hot shower and then curl up with a good book under her blanket. 

Lighting tore up the sky and she shivered slightly breaking into a run. If only she could have afforded a car - she would have been dry and probably home by now – but cars for people of her status had become myth since the Pulse. Thunder crashed overhead.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Stumbling, she hit the ground. Something was pressing on her back - forcing her to stay there.

She screamed! A cold cruel laugh was her only reply. Then something sharp dug into her neck … and she knew nothing more.


	2. Chapter 2 For My Eyes Only

Chapter 2 

He was crying again. The young soldier stood still, watching Zack's sleeping form in his cot, watching his tiny chest rise and fall, trying to remember her orders, ignore – but she couldn't. Her eyes flicked to Georgie's bed on the other side of the nursery, with the other carers'. The other X3 was still fast asleep.

_'She shouldn't be,' the girl thought, 'A good carer wouldn't be.'_

_Quietly she slipped in between the rows of cots until she stood in front of the source of the noise … Ben. Tenderly she lifted the wailing infant into her arms and rocked him softly. Soothing him.  Her enhanced sense of smell had already confirmed that he was still dry, but it had been a while since he'd been fed. She guessed he was merely hungry._

_Before she had even realised what she was doing, her spare hand undid the top of her hospital gown and slipped out of the sleeve so that it hung loosely off one shoulder like a roman toga._

_Checking that Georgie was still undisturbed, she lifted the child delicately to her newly exposed teat. He knew what to do immediately. The twelve-year-old girl almost sighed with relief as the pent-up store of milk flowed from her aching body. _

Kitty awoke in her bed, shivering. It had been a long time since she had had a dream like that, but she knew why they had come back. She pulled the blanket over her head, trying to get back to sleep, but she couldn't block out the thoughts.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The night-staff at Sunderman Labs were also wishing they could catch some 'z's, but someone had to take care of the laboratories at night and, to earn some hard cash in this god-awful depression, they were the someones stupid enough to sign away their chance of a normal sleeping-pattern. So here they were at some god-forsaken hour of the morning, drowning tons of coffee or trying to avoid being caught dozing in a corner.

Alan Midway had belonged to this lifeless group of layabouts for nearly four years now, but the pale man in his early fifties had yet to make any real friends here. He rarely bothered speaking to the six other lab-techs, night-watchmen, cleaners and so on that got stuck in the building once the sun went down. He preferred it this way, no friends, no family, no complications … it was safer.

The man heard glass smash behind him in the lab. Well, he thought he did, but when he turned around to check there was no one there … he must be imagining things.

Alan turned back to the experiment he was meant to be monitoring. It was a tank full of water, hardly the most exciting thing, but apparently they had done something to the fish in there. Actually, he knew exactly what. They had switched their genes with jellyfish to make them glow when they were agitated. He even knew which genes they had switched; the … he checked the thought quickly. He was a lab-tech, remember, he didn't know anything about this stuff. It was all part of the mysteries of science that were above totally his meagre comprehension. _Was that somebody behind him?_

Spinning around, he raised his fists … there was no one there. Taking no chances he inspected the entire lab. He checked under the benches, behind the door, even in the large cupboard pushed in its dusty corner … Nothing.

Alan sank down on a bench stool, raising one pale hand to his clammy forehead. He was beginning to get paranoid. All that business a couple of years back with that place … which had burned down now anyway … still it was driving him crazy, maybe he should go on a vacation. Somewhere warm. After all it had burned down … it ought to be safe. 

That was when he spotted the smashed beaker on the floor.

Before he could react, a hand gripped his throat. Sharp nails dug into his skin. He tried to scream – he couldn't breathe. Something was pulling him backwards, away from the bench, his arms flailed uselessly about him. He could feel the ragged breath of some creature at his neck. Was it going to eat him?

"This is for my sister," a horse voice whispered close to his ear.

"W-whha …" he managed to gasp – and then he was plunged headfirst into the tank of water. Gradually his struggling frame grew weaker, before finally going limp all together. 

It wasn't until the start of the next shift that he was discovered, lying in a puddle on the floor, dead eyes staring glazedly at the tank from which he had been allowed to slip once he had gone limp – the occupants of which, incidentally, were all glowing bright orange.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"This had better be good, Logan!" Max called as she strolled into the older man's apartment.

"It's not, Max." Logan had a serious look on his face, as he turned away from his computer, "There's been another murder."

"Another! Sixth one this month, isn't it?"

"Yep - and it looks like there's gonna be more. The police still haven't come up with anything. People are really scared out there and – in case you haven't noticed - the media isn't exactly doing much to help matters."

"Serial killer makes great air-time," Max sighed, "Big chance for every news correspondent, come crime specialist to get their face on the screen."

"Uh-huh,"

"So …" Max smiled, letting herself fall on the sofa, "What does the great Eyes-Only need his favourite cat-burglar to for him?"

"Oh _please!_" a voice groaned from the doorway.

She shot up immediately, eyes wide in shock, "Alec! What are you doing here?"

"I asked him to come," Logan explained, turning back to his computer, "Thought you could use some back-up."

"Thank you _Logan_," Max muttered, her voice seething with indignation, "I can decide whether I need someone to come back up my ass for myself you know!"

"Hey!" Alec yelled, "I didn't volunteer for that! – Not that I mind though..." His eyes lowered to the area in question - Max kicked him.

"Well," Alec took the position Max had vacated on the coach, rubbing his shin, "Could be worse, Maxie, your _boyfriend_ over there could have decided we're not worthy again and got those damn X3s to run the show for us!"

"_We're not even like that!"_ the girl snapped, in automatic response to the boyfriend reference.

Logan, however, suddenly had a rather guilty look on his face. The two transgenics shoot each other a worried look.

"Tell me you _didn't_." Max gasped.

… and then the doorbell rang.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Five minutes later a sulking Max and an indignant Alec were seated on the opposite side of the dining-room table from the two X3s, whom Logan had finally induced as Nick and Kitty, and who – actually looked quite calm and relaxed. Quite remarkable, considering the looks the two X5s were giving them.

"So what do need us to do?" the female, Kitty, asked once Logan had poured her cup of tea – she didn't drink coffee apparently.

Logan shot Max a look that made her swallow her own response to that question and began, "Well, I guess you guys have heard about the murders …" 

Nick nodded, "Kinda hard to miss. Every time you happen to pass a TV or a newsstand it's '_Vicious Serial Killer Lose In Seattle! Police Still Have No Clue As To Identity!'"_

"Yeah," Logan smiled, "Thing is, they've got a new head of the Seattle Police and it turns out he's a pretty smart one too."

Max snorted, "Huh! Compliment from the great Eyes Only – wish he knew how _honoured_ he was,"

Logan shot her an angry glance. She paled, "**_Oh My God! _**Did I just say _that_?"

Kitty almost grinned, "That's okay, Max, we knew anyway. Took one look at your boy's eyes and our genetically enhanced retina recognition systems went hotwire. "

"He's not _my boy_," Max muttered uncomfortably.

"That's not what the pheromone level in this room is telling me," Nick retorted.

"Enhanced sense of smell too, " Kitty explained.

"_Anyway!_" Logan interrupted, wondering if they would ever get to the point, "The new chief's put all the data from the murder case onto his home computer with no internet connection – and he only uses classified paper files around the office – which makes the whole thing pretty darn impossible to hack into."

"So you need us to go grab one of these classified paper files from the office, right?" Max interrupted, "You know, I could have done that on my own!"

"Unfortunately he only seems to distribute information on a need-to-know basis, which means that all of those files are incomplete."

"So you need us to go download the data from the home computer," Kitty finished.

"Basically … yes."

Nick finished his cup of coffee in one gulp. "Got a map of the facility?"

Logan disappeared for minute, before re-emerging from his computer with a rolled up sheet of paper, which he then spread out on the tabletop.

"Huh! This guy sure does like security," Kitty sounded impressed.

"The place's a lock-box!" Max cried in dismay, "And this is just what we know about! How're we gonna get in there?"

Nick looked up, "First problems the guards and the motion sensors in the grounds. If you and Alec take out the guards here by the guardhouse – that'll give me and Kitsey time to disable the sensors."

"Then," Kitty went on, "You two can enter into the Control Room, using the window here, if you're fast enough that will give you time to disable the alarms before they go off. It'll probably be something like the red button on a big metal box on the wall. These systems are terribly old-fashioned – still damn effective though."

"While you're doing that," Nick continued, "Kitty-Cat and I will take out the guard-dogs here and enter the computer room to retrieve the data here. You should be able to monitor us on the surveillance system."

"When you see us leave the room," Kitty finished, "You can get the hell out of there. If all four of us split up and we make our way individually back here – to Logan's – that'll cut down the chances of us being followed. All agreed?"

"Huh?" Max looked up surprised.

"Do you agree with our plan," Kitty asked, "Or would you like to suggest one of your own?" Oddly enough, she managed to say that without sounding patronising.

"Yours is fine," Alec murmured quickly.

"So when are we gonna do this?" Logan asked, a glow of excitement on his face. He was the only one in the room who looked anything close to that.

"I'd say tonight," Kitty said.

"Fine!" Max snapped.

"Max," Kitty sounded surprised, "I'm not giving an order, I'm only asking."

"Sounds more like your deciding for us – where I come from, that's called ordering," Max muttered.

Kitty shook her head, "I only think that if we leave it, at the rate of these murders, somebody could die before we even get there. That's all – I'm _not_ trying to be your CO."

Max shrugged her shoulders. "Tonight," she finally agreed.

Nick sighed, still gazing at the map, "I don't like it."

A shocked silence filled the room. _Don't like it?_ From the guy who'd just made most of the plan?

"I mean – the Seattle police have always been notoriously incompetent since the pulse. Why this sudden change in the system? It smells of a trap." He scratched his head helplessly.

"I don't like it either, but we don't have a choice," Kitty retorted, "This killer has to be stopped!"

Logan and Max exchanged wary glances. They could both remember a very similar conversation not so long ago, before a different mission – one that had ended in disaster.

"Lets go home and get changed or whatever," Kitty said, "Meet you guys in twenty minutes in front of the target house." And with that they left.


	3. Chapter 3 At the House

Chapter 3 

The other three were already there, crouched in some bushes by the garden wall, when Alec turned up at the house they were going to break into. The younger man checked his watch - he was five minutes early!

"Ready?" Max asked, shifting her position slightly, "Then lets do this!"

They jumped over the wall, just missing the sensors, and split up. Kitty and Nick disappeared out of sight almost immediately. The two X5s crept noiselessly along the brickwork making their way to the guardhouse.

"You know, Max…" Alec began, shattering the effect.

"Shut up,"

"Fine!" he muttered, his voice betraying the real hurt, "Rude - but fine!"

She shook her head, "No really - shut up. There's a guard heading this way."

He tensed in attack stance, but Max grabbed his arm and pulled him behind some bins for cover. She pressed one hand over his mouth and gripped his arm with the other, forcing to wait with her for the offending article of humanity to pass.

"W-what the hell was that for, Max!" Alec spluttered angrily as she released him.

"He was heading back to the guardhouse," she explained, "Way I figure, if we take him out there we can lock him in with all his other little guard buddies and we won't have to worry about nobody waking up and raising the alarm."

"Fine," he hissed, "But at what part does that include you pushing me around like a helpless baby?"

"Oh shut up before I knock you on your ass,"

"My ass again, Maxie?" Alec suddenly had that mischievous grin back on his face.

"Shut up!"

"Fine," he snapped. A few minutes passed in sulky silence … then Max grabbed his arm hard enough to cut off the blood supply.

"Ouch – what?"

"We're here," She pointed to small wooden lean-to that had been put up against the outside wall. It couldn't have been much bigger than Max's bedroom, but she could distinctly make out at least four people inside through the dirty windows on either side of the door.

Security was monitored at the house. This was just a place for the guards to rest in between patrols. One of them should be leaving in a minute to replace the guard they had let go back in, but it was cold outside and the guards looked like they wanted to make that a very long minute.

"That's great," Alec sighed, "You know, Maxie, you might wanna let me have my arm back now. I tend to be better at throwing punches when it isn't throbbing with pain," She released him quickly with a half-embarrassed smile, which was completely lost on Alec as he nursed the sore limb.

Max gave him five seconds to stop cursing, before she moved into combat position. The other transgenic copied her warily.

"On three," she whispered, "One, two …"

"Three," Alec gasped and went crashing through one of the windows. Max sat still for a second stunned before following him. She was just in time to knock the last guard unconscious before he attacked Alec, who was taking out one of his mates, from behind with a recently detached table leg.

"I thought we were meant to go in together!" Alec snapped at her, as both guards fell to the floor oblivious to the world.

"We would have done," she hissed back, "If you hadn't jumped the gun and waited for me to count to three."

Alec suddenly grinned again, "You know Maxie, I can't have 'jumped the gun' and 'waited for you to say three' at the same time. It's gotta be one _or_ the other. Make your mind up!"

"Shut up," she muttered, sneaking back outside to sit beside one of the motion sensors, just outside of its range.

Alec joined her quickly, "You know Maxie, what is it with you? You're always either telling me to shut up or talking about my ass. It getting kinda boring. Can't you say something else?"

She punched him hard in the ribs.

"I shouldn't have asked," he muttered.

Five minutes later, he started again, "So Maxie…"

"**_What!_**"

He pulled back in alarm, but finished his sentence anyway, "Why are we baby-sitting a motion sensor?"

Max growled, but – seeing as the question had finally been vaguely sensible – she felt obliged to answer, much as it pained her. "We're waiting for it to go dead, you imbecile, so that we know Kitty and Nick have cut the power line to them."

"Okay – you know Maxie …"

"No! I don't know! I don't care! And I sure as hell wish you would just **_shut up_**!" Just at that point, the lights on the sensor flashed out of existence and she took off towards the window of the surveillance room at a speed no ordinary human eye could follow.

Alec's eyes, however, followed her graceful figure without any trouble, but all trace of smile had vanished from his face. "Fine!" he whispered and let the rest of his anatomy follow her.

She was waiting for him underneath the window, hidden from sight only by a few rosebushes. Slowly he crouched down beside her, watching her carefully in case he got snapped at again.

Thankfully though, she was all business. The windows of the security room were very large with a small balcony for pot plants in front of them. It was big enough for them to go through together, which would enable them to keep the element of surprise.

Alec tried to glimpse inside the room. Oddly, it was so brightly lit that this proved easy. He could several people sitting in front of the monitors inside without any difficulty at all. Something about them struck him as weird. He turned to mention it to Max, but she had already started snapping orders.

"On three," she muttered, "And wait for me this time! One, two, _three!"_

They smashed through into the well-lit room, landing side by side in a shower of broken glass. They tensed ready to fend off attackers … but nothing happened. They were just ignored.

Then the chairs suddenly swivelled around.

"Uh-oh!" Alec whispered.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Meanwhile in a side building on the opposite side of the grounds, Kitty and Nick had just finished locking the guard dogs down in the kennels for the night.

"Nice puppies," Kitty whispered sarcastically, as they slipped through a side door, the lock of which Nick had just spent several minutes picking (no mean task considering the amount of alarms on the thing), into the house.

They were in the kitchen. The male transgenic glanced up along the top of the walls. There were at least three cameras in the room.

"How do we know whether they've taken out the room yet?" he asked nervously.

 "Oh simple really," Kitty replied, "If they haven't – an alarm goes off."

"Something tells me we should have thought harder about this part of our plan."

Kitty smiled, "Doesn't really matter. Even if we are spotted, the other two will have taken out the guards by now and we dealt with the dogs. That means there shouldn't be too much left to deal with us. Just the staff in the surveillance room probably. They shouldn't be to hard to take out and even if they are … we have Max and Alec for back-up somewhere in here."

"Right," Nick shrugged, still nervous, "So – do we bother to sneak along this room or do we just step out boldly in front of the camera?"

"Don't think it matters. The camera there will already be showing lots of pretty pictures of us anyway," She pointed at one Nick had missed, "Hope it's caught your best side." 

"Lets just get to that darn computer!" her brother snapped leading the way.

Five minutes later, while her brother stood by the doorway watching the hall, Kitty was seated in front of what actually looked like an ancient apple-power computer, manufactured around 2012 if she wasn't mistaken. Considering the level of security protecting this tired old thing, she was actually quite disappointed. It would have been nice to test her hacking skills on something a little more challenging.

It only took Kitty a few seconds to locate the files she needed and a few more to crack the password, but then even an ordinary person wouldn't have taken much longer on something this old.

She scanned the file hurriedly and gasped.

"You okay Kitten?" her brother asked.

"Yeah, yeah. It's just … just the wrong file, that's all," she muttered, minimising it before he could read it.

"Okay," he turned back to the hall.

She brought the file up again. Unfortunately she had been lying. It was the right file alright … and she didn't like what she was reading one little bit.

'All six bodies bore deep nail marks on their necks, which ranged to up to an inch in depth. One of the bodies was clutching a small piece of black fabric, cotton, which might have been torn from her attacker's shirt. Small samples of DNA, originally thought to have belonged to the killer, were removed also from the bodies – however strangely in all cases this DNA did not appear to be human. Interestingly there were strong similarities between the samples of DNA and canine DNA, however these were not strong enough for this to actually be a canine …'

Kitty stopped reading. She hung her head in her hands for a moment. She felt like crying, but that would have alerted her brother.

Carefully, checking that Nick was still watching the empty hallway, she deleted what she had just read and replaced it with a new text.

'Remarkably for such brutal attacks there was very little real evidence found at the crime scene and even the forensic report proved inconclusive.'

Then she downloaded the altered file onto a disk and joined her brother in the hallway. She tapped him on the shoulder with the floppy.

"Make sure this gets back to Logan for me. I've got something I've gotta do."

"Aren't you going back to the penthouse?" Nick asked in surprise.

"No, like I said, I'm busy. Give them my apologies for standing them up, won't you?"

Just then the alarm went off.

"_What the hell?_" Nick cried.

"Someone must have woken up after the kids left the surveillance room," Kitty whispered urgently, "Come on! Let's get up there and check on them!" Within seconds the two transgenics were just blurs in the hallway.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Logan looked up in relief when he heard the doorbell ring. The transgenics were almost half an hour late now.

He was very worried. Logan had tried, unsuccessfully, to busy himself with Eyes Only work on his computer, but it didn't hold any of its usual fascination for him. He had given up now and was perched on his sofa, fidgeting, as he watched the clock tick past every oh-so-slow second.

The man spun round excitedly as he heard the lock being picked and – then froze in astonishment as he saw Nick … on his own. Of course, he reminded himself irritably, they had agreed to split up and meet here. He had just been hoping that they might arrive together … or on time …

Still he didn't like it. Logan had known Nick for a few months now, but he had never seen him without his sister … and then there was that look on his face …

"Aren't they here?" Nick said edgily, scanning the apartment.

Logan knew what he meant at once. His heart sank. "No … you're first."

"Damn! Kitty and I heard an alarm go off when we left the computer room with the disk – it's here by the way – we rushed upstairs to check the surveillance room. It was empty. No unconscious security staff. No sign of the kids. No sign of a fight either. We couldn't stay in the grounds for long, police were on their way, but we didn't find anything there either."

"So? What do you think happened?" Logan muttered quietly, biting his lip nervous at the thought of anything happing to Max.

"Kitty thinks that maybe they came round after the kids left," Nick sighed, "But I dunno. _All_ the staff? In the two minutes that must have elapsed between them leaving the room and the alarm going off? Doesn't sound right – and Kitty seemed distracted anyway …"

"Why?" Logan asked immediately.

Nick shrugged, "I have no idea … she's just moody."

"So what do _you_ think happened to Max?" the other man asked him slowly.

A shadow passed across Nick's face, "I dunno … She's a smart girl, but … it doesn't look good, does it?"  Nick shrugged helplessly.

Logan sighed, walking back to his computer, "I'm going to check the logs of the sector cross points. Maybe I'll come up with something."

The transgenic fidgeted in the living room for several seconds before following him. As soon as he stood still again, he started tapping on the wall in frustration. Logan shot him an irritated glance.

"Sorry," he pulled away from the wall, but immediately began pacing the room, which Logan didn't like any better.

"I shouldn't have left her go in alone!" Nick finally cried, letting himself flop back against the wall, "You think somethings happened too right?"

"Shouldn't have let who go?" Logan asked distractedly, "Kitty?"

"Max!" Nick cried, "I should've gone with her! Alec's just a kid – what the hell could he have done!"

"Done about what?" Logan snapped, "We don't even know if anything has happened yet! What the hell are _you_ so worried about Max for anyway? The way your acting anyone would think you're her father … or something …" His voice trailed off. A half-forgotten memory had crossed his mind. He remembered the way Zack had always acted when Max was in trouble. The frantic 'she's my family and I have to protect her' attitude.

"Are you?" he whispered hoarsely.

"What?" Nick looked distracted.

"Her father – or something," Logan said. No hint of amusement on his face. Suddenly other memories sprang to his mind. Memories of the first conversation he had ever had with Nick. "You told me that you'd had a charge once," the ordinary man explained, "A girl - you used the word 'she' when you mentioned her. '_She_ was too young to remember me now' and Max was one of the youngest in her unit…"

The transgenic stared at him. He was very still now. If it hadn't been for the fierceness in those eyes, Logan would have wondered whether he was still alive. He could only guess at the emotion raging behind those wild hazel windows.

Slowly, finally Nick smiled … and nodded, "It was that obvious, huh? Yes … I was Max's carer."

Logan nodded too, understanding the other man slightly better, "You know - she would have loved to have known about you."

Nick suddenly laughed hysterically. Logan flinched at the sound. "Of course she would, but if I'd gone to see her I would've lead Manticore right to her. What was I supposed to do?"

"Why didn't you tell her once it burnt down?"

"Yeah sure! Great idea!" Nick sank into a chair with a rueful grin on his face, " 'Hello Maxie, you don't remember me but I'm the guy who used to look after you when you were a kid. Anyway I've not been there for you your entire life, but I'm back now, so that's okay then.' Sure Logan. That'll work!"

There was an awkward silence.

Then Nick stood up suddenly, "I'm going to check their apartments and Crash again. Then I'll work across the local area – maybe they just got held up."

"Yeah – I've got to start searching too." Logan said turning back to his computer.


	4. Chapter 4 Dark Secrets

WARNING: YOU MAY FIND SOME OF THE CONTENT OF THIS CHAPTER DISTRESSING.

Chapter 4 

She paused for a second in the dusty stairwell listening. The sad sombre sounds of a violin reached her ears, so she knew she was at the right place.

Kitty had never liked violin playing much. Somehow to her it was all just noise that grated on her formerly hypersensitive ears – except when her brother was the one playing.

When he made music it could sound sweet and gentle or sad and doleful or abrupt and loud just as he pleased, but his playing always sounded beautiful … and that was not just to her ears. Probably why his neighbours never complained about the noise.

She knocked quietly on the door, but she knew that she wouldn't get a reply. He had heard her all right, but she would be ignored in favour of the instrument. Gently she pushed the door open and slipped inside.

Even with her eyesight it took her moment to adjust to the light, or rather the lack of it. All the curtains were drawn and there was no other source of light. Papers were scattered everywhere, across the un-swept floor, over the polished table and even on the grubby-looking coach that was the only other piece of furniture in the room. A battered door to her right hung off its hinges revealing a tiny bathroom. Wallpaper hung in strips from the walls. The place looked like a battlefield.

In the far corner, a dark shadow was curled up on the windowsill. The origin of the melody.

Carefully Kitty pawed her way across the floor, until she was only a few feet away from the window. She squatted down on the floor with her back against the sofa and curled her arms about her knees, gazing up at the intense black eyes of the musician and the wild light that blazed within them.

He must have been around six feet, but his body was skinny enough to put her near anorexic one to shame. Every inch of his body except his face was covered in jet-black hair, which merely turned into a thick greasy mat on the top of his head. His slender fingers caressed his instrument with nails that were long enough to pierce straight through a human forearm. His face bore several strange dark marks were whiskers might have been and his over-sized nose looked rather too dark and rounded at the end. Familiar traces of his canine DNA.

Slowly the melody trailed into its last few notes.

There was complete silence for a few minutes as his fierce black eyes met her sharp hazel ones.

"Wolfie," she whined in greeting.

She spoke his name with a German accent, making it sound more like 'Volfie'. They had both been trained as their unit's language experts, which in her case meant she could speak fluent German and a little French – in his meant that he was fluent in any langue from Russian to Chinese.

There was no excuse for her not to pronounce his name correctly, Wolfgang Amadeus, just like the great and eccentric Austrian composer whom he was so similar too. She wondered sometimes whether he actually had some of Mozart's DNA, especially when she heard him playing.

A new light sparkled in the deep black eyes at the sight of her. Joy. Happiness. Like a puppy with its returning master.

"Schwesterchen!" he breathed in delight. _Little Sister_

"Grues dich, Bruderherz," she replied. _Hello, Brother dearest_

"Wie geht es dir, meine Schoene?" _How are you, my beautiful?_

But she was in no mood for pleasantries. "Wieso?" she demanded. _Why?_

His eyes grew dark again. She knew he had understood her, but she could also see that he was hurt that she didn't understand him.

"Es waren boese Leute, Schwesterchen!" _They were bad people, little sister!_

"Wieso? Warum hast du sie umgebracht?" _Why? Why did you kill them?_

The answer tore straight through her, chilling her to the bone.

"Fuer dich," _For you_

She balanced. Her hazel eyes alive with horror. "Was!" _What!_

Wolf's face contorted with confusion. Why didn't she understand him? "Sie haben fuer ihn gearbeited. Ich habe dich darmals nicht beschuetzt. Jetzt … jetzt beschuetzte ich dich!"_ They worked for him. I didn't protect you then. Now … now I will protect you._

Her mind snapped back to her past. The familiar whirlpool of images started up again. Images she had been trying to forget …

_The soldier stood silently in line with her siblings. Little Zack was beside her on his podgy toddling legs, tiny fists clutching at her trouser-leg. The infant could walk unsupported by now of course, he just liked holding on to her. It reassured him somehow. Besides she would have to pick him up in a minute anyway. He wouldn't be able to keep up once they started moving._

_She was standing at the back, of course, with the other carers. There was quite a collection of them now. Hawk stood to her left, with Brin beside her, who was holding her dainty little self gracefully aloof from the mere transgentics around her. Taro, one of the few male carers, towered above the tiny girl with Zane perched up on his arm. The baby boy was still clutching his mentor's shirt for support though, hardly surprising as he had only learned to sit a few weeks ago. _

_To Kitty's right stood Tear, one of her more protective older sisters. In her arms lay the charge she had received just a few weeks ago. The new baby, Jace. She wouldn't be the new baby for long though. Manticore was already instructing Hex and Honey on how to carry out carer duties._

_Like a wall of defensive guardians the non-carer X3s were lined up in front them. Leo, Abby, Christie, Lynx, Tobias, Raven, Genie, Georgie, Wolf, Hex, Tiger, Honey and even Kitty's own biological brother Nick, positioned at the end of the row in front where he could still see her. They stood still as stone in the three rows in front of her, like silent guardians protecting her and the little X5s from the noise and the sight of the officers running the drill._

_Her eyes ran across their shoulders, relaxed and loose in the 'at ease' position. Somehow the sight of them always made her feel secure too. Just like Zack clinging to her trousers. Had she been anyone and anywhere else, she would have smiled._

_This was just another ordinary morning drill. Exactly the same as every morning for all of them. Even the little X5s, who were present – as every morning – to acclimatise them to the military conditions, even if they couldn't yet participate for themselves. It was perfectly normal, perfectly ordinary, perfectly unremarkable … until the door opened and he strode in._

_Something inside of her clenched up tightly at the sight of his clean-shaven face. There was something about that look he'd been giving her recently. She didn't like it. It was so … hungry. Like he wanted to eat her – but that idea was preposterous. People didn't eat each other._

_The looks had started just after she had claimed Zack. After she'd stood up to him. Created the whole position as X5 carer. Something her siblings still couldn't quite believe she had managed to get away with. _

_Suddenly she had to suppress shivers. He was giving her one of those looks now. Fixing her with an intense glare that she couldn't ignore, however hard she tried. It was worse than ever now. She suddenly felt naked beneath her uniform._

_Ridiculous. Why should she feel naked? She was perfectly well clothed._

_He was still watching her._

_Riveted with a fear that she couldn't explain, much less understand, she stared at him, with unholy fascination, as he had a quiet conversation with the drill sergeant. They seemed to be arguing about something, but the sergeant gave in eventually. He had too. He was outranked._

_Still he didn't look happy. She watched him turn back to face them._

_"X3-453," he bellowed. She came to attention. "Your to leave with the Cornel immediately. They rest of you …" but she wasn't listening. Her terrified eyes were fixed on the senior officer. She wished he'd stop staring at her._

_One of her hands twitched slightly. She was too well disciplined for it to be fear, though in anyone else it might have been. She was in actually merely signalling to Nick to watch over Zack while she was gone. Her feet slowly started forwards. For some reason her normal marching pace was inhibited. She could only manage to just about drag her feet across the floor._

_All too soon, she felt his hand on her shoulder._

_"Come with me, 327," he whispered so that only she could hear it. Why was he repeating the order? Why did he have such a strange tone to his voice?_

_He pulled her gently through the door with him._

Her training should have prevented it, but she couldn't help it. Her head spun around. She fixed her siblings with a wild-eyed stare. Nothing short of a cry for help.

She didn't know until afterwards how much she really needed it.

Kitty hit her head against her arms trying to stop the flood of memories. "Wieso mich beschuetzten?" she cried bitterly, "Er ist tot! Wolfie! Er ist tot! Er kann uns nichts mehr an tun?" _Why protect me? He is dead! Wolfie! He is dead! He can't hurt us anymore!_

Her mind, however, still played out its own ghastly images.

_He led her to his office. She heard the door slam shut behind her and it being locked. The eleven year old was suddenly shivering uncontrollably._

_"Hey," the fully-grown man whispered far to gently. His hand was on her shoulder again. She tensed up at the touch - afraid. Of what? Him? That was ridiculous. He was part of Manticore. Her commanding officer. He was supposed to protect her._

_She watched him kneel down in front of her. Her eyes locked with his. That look … Her whole being was suddenly alive with fear. What was he going to do? The solider part her mind struggled to maintain control. She thought of her siblings. Of the repercussions they had been forced to endure last time she stepped out of line. It was the only thing that kept her from running._

_And then, he kissed her. On her lips. Hard. His tongue pushed through her clenched teeth. Shock exploded within her. She wanted to scream. She wanted to flee. She wanted to cry. But she couldn't. She couldn't do anything to stop him. She was too afraid of him. She should kill him. She might have reached up and snapped his neck at any second, but she couldn't. She was scared. Of him. Of what he could do to her family. To Zack._

_To her hypersensitive hearing the sound of him undoing his flies was as loud as a bomb going off. She shivered … petrified._

Hot tears ran down her face. She was barely aware of the violent sobs that shook her body. Wolf jumped from the windowsill and crouched down in front of her. His face was a mask of confused concern. Shyly he reached out a hand and held it out to her face, but he didn't touch her. He knew there was nothing Kitty hated more than being touched. He knew why too.

 "Oh Wolfie," she cried, "Warum?" _Why?_

He understood exactly what she meant, but he still shook his head. "Ich weiss nicht." _I don't know._

Helplessly he watched the tears roll down her face.

_The twelve year old opened the door to the nursery quietly. Her siblings and the charges didn't stir, but that meant nothing with them. They wouldn't move even if they were awake. Quietly she crept to Zack's cot. _

_He was curled up asleep, sucking the corner of the blanket. Nick must have put him to bed for her._

_A solitary tear ran down her face. Zack had never gone to sleep for anyone other than her before. She couldn't help it if Lydecker kept calling her away._

_She turned away. Carefully she slipped across to her own bed to pull the blanket over her head and cry herself to sleep._

Wolf howled quietly his hand still extended. "Nicht einmal als er dich krank gemacht hat habe ich versucht dich to beschuetzten." _I did even try to protect you once he made you ill._

To his surprise, she reached out and held his hand for a brief second before letting go again. "Ich war nicht krank, Wolf," _I wasn't ill, Wolf_

_Medical check ups. A weekly occurrence for both the charges and their carers. Kitty held Zack's hand as she waited with Tear and baby Jace outside the lab. They were alone in the corridor at the moment. Jack hadn't been feeling well so Honey had come early and Hawk and her charge, Brin, were already inside._

_Suddenly Kitty felt nauseous. She put a hand against the wall to steady herself, but found it was shaking. She was shaking!_

_She felt like she was going to fall, so she knelt on the floor, pressing both hands against the ground to steady herself. They wouldn't go properly flat! She couldn't straighten her fingers!_

_"Kitty!" Zack wailed alarmed._

_She fell sideways. Her whole body was jerking now._

_For how many minutes she lay like that she didn't know, but eventually she felt firm hands lift her off the floor and carry safely to a gurney in the lab. Those same hands had to pin her down so that she didn't fall off it._

_She saw the faces they belonged to. Tear and – was that Leo? What was _he _doing here? He didn't have a charge. Didn't need to report for check ups._

_Doctors rushed around them. Checking her pulse. Her temperature. Sticking needles into her._

_"Z-Zack," she managed to gasp._

_"It's okay," Tear replied, "I've got him here … he's holding Jace … trying to look … look up … onto the gurney." Her voice came in gasps. She was struggling to hold her sister down, even with their oldest brother's help._

_"Quiet now, Kitty," Leo ordered gently, but he sounded equally tired._

_Eventually, after what seemed like hours, but was in fact only thirty minutes, her seizure began to lessen, until finally the two X3s were able to release her without the risk of her ending up on the floor. Tear reached down and lifted Zack up to sit beside her. She was right. He was holding Jace. Correctly too._

_"Make … a … good … carer," Kitty managed slowly, "one ... day,"_

_"Yeah," Tear smiled._

_The door slammed open. "You two are dismissed," Lydecker snapped in the X3s direction. Tear took Jace out of her brother's arms and left with Leo at her heels. They made a point of leaving Zack with his carer._

_Kitty glanced up in Lydecker's direction. She was too exhausted even to feel scared, but she raised one still quivering hand and pulled Zack towards her. Nothing could make her trust Lydecker._

_Thankfully however, he turned away from her to one of the doctors._

_"What wrong with her?" he demanded loudly, pointing at the child on the gurney._

_The doctor looked up from her notes slowly. "She's pregnant."_

_For many years afterwards Kitty still remembered the silence that followed those words._

Wolf shook his head sorrowfully. "Ich war da. Als du sie in die Welt gebracht hast, war ich da." _I was there. When you brought them into the world, I was there._

"Was?" _What!_

"Ich bin auf dem Dach geklettered und da habe ich dich sehen koennen." _I climbed onto the roof and I could see you from there._

"Ach so," _Oh right_ She tried not to make it seem like a big deal, though inwardly she was reeling with shock.

"Also bin ich in das Krankenzimmer eingebrochen." _So I broke into the room._

Kitty eyes suddenly hardened in unchecked blind anger. She leapt to her feet, shacking with fury. 

"Du! Du warst im Zimmer! Warum? Warum has du nicht nichts getan? Warum hast to ihn nicht gestopped? Ich konnte es nicht! Warum hast nichts getan!"

_ You! You were in the room! Why didn't you do anything? Why didn't you stop him? I couldn't? Why did you do nothing!_

She dissolved into heavy tears. Wolf pulled away, a shamed look on his face like a beaten puppy.

After a few moments, however, she collapsed back into her former position. Mechanically she dried her eyes. "Ich rede Warnsin, grosser brueder! Was haettest du denn tun koennen?" _I'm talking rubbish, big brother. What could you have done?_ She gave him wired half-smile.__

"Ich haette dich beschuetzten koennen," he replied. _I could have protected you._

_Kitty howled in pain she didn't normally feel as she pushed again. The effort was killing her. Why couldn't the baby be born already! Then suddenly she froze … the sound of the baby's wailing filled the room!_

_She grinned, worn out, but still watching alertly as ever as the doctor severed them and handed her baby to the nurses to be weighed and wrapped in a waiting blanket._

_Delighted, proud, the girl watched the women administering those services for her child. The resurging pain in the girl's belly told her the other one was on its way, but she held her arms out for her baby anyway. She wanted to hold her child._

_Then she heard Lydecker's voice, breaking the calm activity in the room, "Thank you. Give the baby to me now." She hadn't even known he was there! Horrified, she stared as he forcefully removed the child from the nurse's arms. _

_"No!" she cried, "No! No!" Ignoring the pain, She leapt from her bed._

_Lydecker stared silently at her for a moment. Then he laughed._

_Kitty cried out again and collapsed on the floor. Too far into labour to stand any longer._

_"No!" she yelled, "NO!"_

_Lydecker turned away as if she wasn't even there. "As 327 already has a charge," he said coldly to one of the doctors, "I'll send 857 to collect the other one once 327 has delivered it. 857 will be its carer."_

_Kitty screamed! And screamed! And screamed! The sound made the baby start to wail with her!_

_But it was no use! The medical staff surrounded the helpless girl like vultures, restraining the frantic child on the floor. Even once Lydecker left the building with the newborn he could still her its mother, still screaming for her lost baby even as its sibling made its way into the world._

Kitty shook her head, "Nein, Bruederherz, du koenntest mich nicht von ihn beschuetzten. Niemand kann dass." _No, brother dearest, you couldn't protect me. Nobody can do that._

"Ich werde dich jetzt beuetzten." _I'll protect you now._

"Ich dich auch." _I'll protect you too._

Then suddenly Kitty started blot upright. Her hand flew to her side and she yanked out a pager. Her eyes scanned the text. "Oh My God!" she gasped in English.

"What is it?" Wolf asked in the same language.

"I was on a mission with two of the kids just before I got here. It looks like the kids were kidnapped, most probably by a breeding-cult freak who is trying to turn the whole Manticore outfit into transgenic flambé," Kitty explained hastily, "Nick and Logan have just turned up a lead on where to find them."

Wolf stood up, "Then what are we waiting for?"


	5. Chapter 5 Kicking Ass

Chapter 5 

Alec woke up with an outrageous headache. It felt like somebody had been using his skull as a makeshift drum kit. Slowly he opened his eyes. White light burned his retina. He shut them quickly.

_Where the hell was he?_ He struggled to remember. The mission … the security room … the chairs … Max.

_Max!_

Where was Max?

He jumped up; only to feel restrains on his wrists and ankles send him crashing back into his bed.

"**_Max!_**"

"Shut up!" a familiar voice shot back from across the room. 

Alec couldn't help but grin. "Glad to hear your safe, Maxie," he retorted out of pure habit.

"Shut up!" she snapped, "This is all _your_ fault,"

He sighed and turning his head towards the sound of her voice. Warily he open one eye. The one closest to the mattress, so that the bridge of his noise protected it from the light. "How d'you figure?"

"If you … If you … shut up once in a while. I might been able to concentrate and … and …"

"… might have thought up a decent come-back?" Alec interjected warily.

She was silent. Alec could just about make out the grubby steel bed that she was lying on beside his own. Careful he lifted his head slightly to get a view of it's occupant.

Yeah, he'd been right! She was scowling. Although to be honest it was hard to tell. Her face was lying in the same kind of curious permanent wink, which he had been forced to adopt himself to protect his eyes from the light. It made reading any emotion very difficult.

He caught her eye – and she smiled at him, near as he could tell anyway. Her long dark brown tresses had spilt all over her beautiful face, giving it an added air of mystery. Air of mystery? Beautiful face? Dark brown tresses? _Was he all right?_ Obviously he'd been hit harder than he realised.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

"… might have thought up a decent come-back?"

Max sulked slightly at Alec's comment, but then she caught him squinting up at her. Did he even realise what a silly look he had on his face? She couldn't help grinning.

Where they anyway? She couldn't remember much about being brought here. What had happened in security room? They jumped through the window … the chairs had spun around and then … she wasn't sure … White? … Made sense, she supposed. Who else could be bothered to sit still in a room for ages on the off chance a couple of transgenics might stop by? She suddenly became aware of a silence in the room.

"So when do you think White's gonna drop by to fed us?"

"White?" The idea hadn't occurred to Alec. Actually, he'd stopped thinking about the whole concept of where they were as soon as he'd noticed that Max was okay. He just been lying here gazing at that part her he could see … her face, her shoulder, the tips of her breasts …

He winced. _Oh God!_ That blow to the head had obviously been really hard. Maybe, when they got out of here, he should get one Logan's transgenic‑friendly doctors to check him out? If they got out here. Wherever here was.

"How do you know it's White?" he asked to distract himself.

"Who else would it be?" she replied testily.

"I guess," he shrugged, the movement hurt his arm. Was it hurt? Just how had _that_ happened?

"Alec?"

"Yeah?"

"What were you going to say?"

"What?"

"Just before I stormed off to the security room window, you where going to say something. What?"

"Oh … um …" To be perfectly honest Alec couldn't even remember. Not that he was going to admit that of course, "I was … just going to ask … going to say … that the time would pass a lot quicker if we played a game or something."

"You've forgotten, haven't you?" He could have sworn he caught her smiling.

"You know, Alec?"

"Yeah?"

"That's okay" Max really was smiling. The sight made him feel weak and dizzy.

Appointment with Dr Carr, _ASAP_.

"I guess it wasn't that important then," he heard her voice continue, "That's okay, gives me one less thing to worry about."

"Yeah," he murmured, oblivious to the insult in the statement.

"Alec?" She was grinning now.

"Yeah?"

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with … O, S, P, O, T."

Alec sighed, "I thought we're only allowed one letter in this game?"

"Max Rules," she explained with a mock-serious expression.

"_Great!_" he exclaimed, awoken from his trance, "We're stuck in god-knows where, having been kidnapped by a dangerous and very probably lethal maniac and all you can think of doing is play stupid children's games with your own sick twisted little rules?"

"Nope," she smirked, "They're not sick twisted little rules; they're 'Max Rules' and there are only two of them. 1 - Max can do whatever she wants and 2 - Max always wins."

"My mistake," he muttered.

"So – are you gonna guess already? Or do you give up?"

He groaned, "I give up. Tell me what O, S, P, O, T stands for."

"One Seriously Pissed-Off Transgenic."

"Damn straight!" he muttered. Then suddenly he felt her hand on his shoulder.

_"Max?"_ he stared at her in shock as she moved the light away, "How the hell?"

"Don't suppose you can wriggle out of yours too?" she asked, ignoring him and testing his restraints, "No, didn't think so …"

"Max, what …?"

She bit her lip nervously. "Gotta get you out of here," she muttered under her breath, "How? Can't undo them or tear them – Cut them … Where's something sharp?"

Alec watched her breathlessly. "Max, please … Don't. If White comes back …" he didn't know why he was saying it. He just knew he had to. If Max leaving five minutes earlier could save her from White … then Max had to go, even if that meant leaving him behind.

She however ignored him, "If I was something able to cut Alec's restraints where would I be?"

"Max, go now," Alec repeated more urgently.

"Flushed? Thrown away? No, that doesn't help … Think, Max, think!" she scanned the room desperately.

"Maxie, please – _GO_!" Alec nearly yelled.

"Oh, shut up Alec. I'm not leaving without you," she snapped, searching various surfaces and drawers around the room for anything vaguely able to free the male transgenic.

"Max!" Alec cried, "White could be here any second! Get out of here while you have the chance!"

"What the hell is it with you Alec?" Max shot back at him, "Do you _want_ to be left here for White to torture you?"

"What I want if for you to save yourself so you won't end up joining me!" he roared in defiance.

"_Really!_ You ought to relax sometime Alec," Max sighed, yanking open cupboards.

"You ought to get out of here Max!" Alec screamed at her.

"You ought to listen to your boyfriend more often, 452," White told her calmly from the doorway.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Where the hell is Kitty?" Nick sighed, staring at the building on the opposite side of the street from where they had parked Logan's old bulletproof Aztec. 

"It's not like her to be late," Logan agreed, drumming his fingers on the windscreen.

_"It's not like her to have not been here from the start!"_ Nick cried, slamming his fist on the dashboard, "Especially where there are X5s involved!" The large man chewed his lip agitatedly.

Logan eyed him nervously. It was at times like this that he remembered his friend's enormous strength. When he started using it to beat up his car.

"I'm sure she'll be here," the normal man mumbled soothingly.

"_She better_," Nick growled.

Logan sighed. It was gonna be a long night.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Max spun around. Her eyes narrowed, "He is _not_ my boyfriend, White. You'll pay for that one."

Alec sighed inwardly. _Like that even mattered right now._

"Really?" White laughed, "And just how will you do that 452? Last time I checked I was the one who had you trapped in here, with no possible means of escape."

"We'll see about that!" Max growled, launching herself at him.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Nick glanced at his watch. "We can't delay the mission any longer," he muttered despondently.

"So go in," Logan shrugged.

"Without Kitty?" the transgenic asked, somehow surprised by the logical conclusion to his own words.

"You're the one who said we can't delay any longer," Logan told him simply.

Nick stared dully out of the window for a second. "I guess," he finally shrugged, "You packing?"

"Isn't that the question you X3s ask right before you pull of some far-fetched crazy stunt completely unarmed?" Logan asked warily.

Nick roared with laughter. "I see you've met Raven," he grinned, pulling a handgun out from his jacket and waving it right under Logan's nose to reassure him. That wasn't exactly the response the ordinary displayed, but Nick didn't seem to notice as he stuffed the weapon back into the inside pocket of his worn leather jacket.

"Well, lets go then," the transgenic beamed, climbing out of the car.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Max slammed into White, knocking him onto the floor. Landing straddled across his mid-section, she immediately started punching him across the face.

The familiar snarled. Lurching upwards, he threw her off him. She landed stunned on her side several feet away. Instantly White started to lay into her with his hard army boots. Smashing into her soft flesh, bruising and wounding.

Max howled in pain and swung her legs up hard, catching White in the midriff, inches above his crotch. Using his surprise, she spun away from him. Crawling to safety beside Alec's bed.

The other transgenic watched helplessly as White pounced after her, dragging her forward by her hair. White's free hand found Max's right arm, locking it behind her back with a vicelike grip.

Growling, the familiar manhandled her across to the bed she had escaped from. It was all over. White slammed the struggling transgenic against the mattress, tightening the restraints around her wrists.

"You'll be the one who pays now, 452," White laughed viciously, turning the lamp back over her bed so that the bright light shone directly into her eyes once more.

He lent down close beside her, managing to avoid throwing any sheltering shadows over her face. He put his mouth close to her ear to whisper, but when he spoke it was loud enough for Alec to hear every word. "You know, 452, the boys at forensics are really getting quite desperate to have a chance to take one of you apart alive," he laughed, "But don't worry – after all the trouble you've caused, I wouldn't even _think_ of handing you over. They can have your little boyfriend over there. I'll take care of _you_ myself."

Max turned her head towards him and spat fiercely into his face.

He straightened, laughing, "Last act of a desperate woman. Tell me 452 – do you like knives? I'm really looking forward to our little _date_."

"Just make sure you have her home by midnight," a voice rang coldly behind them.

Alec stared at the doorway. It was the X3 – Nick – and behind him, Alec's jaw nearly dropped off his face, Logan.

The large transgenic waved a gun loosely at White's face. "Move away from the bed," he growled.

"How nice to see you again, 326," White hissed.

"Pleasure's all mine," Nick snarled back, tightening his grip on the gun.

"Old friends?" Max asked, her voice sounding strained with the pain of the light in her eyes.  The doorway was directly behind her lamp.

"We've met," Nick replied, stepping forward to allow Logan to hurry to Max's bed. The ordinary slipped slowly across the far side of the room, keeping as far away from White as possible. 

Nick on the other hand, moved boldly towards White, forcing him away from the two younger transgenics with the threat of the weapon in the X3's hand.

Pushing the lamp out of the way, Logan fumbled with Max's restraints, loosing them sufficiently for the girl to slip back out of them. Carefully she rolled away from Logan off her bed. She landed in a crouched position beside Alec's.

"Alec's restraints are tougher than mine," she called across to the other two men, "I'm gonna need something to cut them open with."

Nick made the mistake of turning his head round in surprise at the request. 

Instantly White seized his chance. He leapt through the unguarded door, slamming it shut behind him. Alec groaned as they heard the lock clicking into place.

"That's just perfect!" he sighed, "Now we're _all_ trapped in here!"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Nick pulled a pocketknife out of his pocket and flung it at Max. "Free him," he snapped, "Maybe he'll be less tetchy if he's not pinned down."

"Don't count on it," Max muttered, as she started to sever the restraints.

Nick shrugged and barged sideways into the door, sending it flying off its hinges. "Just so long as he can follow us out of here," he sighed.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

White lent against the door, panting. He wiped the sweat off his forehead … and then noticed that everyone in the room was staring at him.

He glowered and they turned swiftly back to their work, but they had succeeded in making White's bad mood yet worse. He snarled, his angered eyes fixing on his faithful sidekick, Otto Gottlieb, who was trying to read some reports on the other side of the room.  

_"What the hell happened?"_ he screamed, _"_There I was trying to do my job_ – _when suddenly I find myself having to fend off 326 as well."

"326, sir?" Gottlieb asked, his lip quivering.

Over of many years of working with White he had developed a shrewd mental gauging system when it came to his superior's infamous tantrums. His insides almost instinctively started to freeze in terror when White was about to have one of his worse ones … Gottlieb currently had the entire Arctic Circle crushed inside his torso.

As unobtrusively as he could, he started to back away from the irate man, putting as much distance as possible between them before White exploded again. He was too late.

"Yes, that's right," White's voice had become dangerously quiet, "You can imagine my surprise to have him barge in on me unannounced when funnily enough I'm sure I remembered having_ a whole squadron of agents directly in his path out here_." He nearly screamed the last line, making every agent in the room flinch in fear.

White fist slammed into a nearby desk, breaking it. Gottlieb flinched. White worked out too much for his liking. Such strength couldn't be natural.

Thinking quickly Gottlieb threw a meaningful glance at several agents close to the holding cell in which the transgenics were locked. They grabbed their tasers and headed for the door. Anything was better than their superior's rage.

Unfortunately however – at that moment the door of the holding cell burst off it's hinges. 326 stood in the settling dust.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pandemonium broke loose. The men with the tasers bravely leapt forward jabbing them into his side. The great man shook heavily, but used the last of his control to hurl his bulk against his attackers, knocking them to the floor.

Suddenly the two younger transgenics leapt through the doorway over his fallen mass. Pushing unarmed agents out of their way they headed straight for the exit. Behind them stumbled – a normal man, if White wasn't mistaken, brandishing a gun.

The familiar snarled and sprang after the escapees. His hand closed on the arm of the ordinary human, knocking the gun from him. Growling in irritation he thrust the man from him like a broken doll, turning to the two transgenics instead.

Max screamed, dashing to Logan's side, she left Alec to fend off White alone. The transgenic swung his fist into the familiar's face, almost instantly following it with a kick to his mid-riff. White growled and landed a hard punch of his own in Alec's side, knocking the transgenic to the floor. The agent laughed. Grabbing his victim's shoulders, he dragged the transgenic to his feet and thrust him straight into a group of agents, who finished him off with tasers.

Snarling White turned away, looking for the object of all his hatred. She was crouched over the ordinary human, shaking his jacket-covered shoulders in a futile attempt to wake him up. Apparently when White had thrust him away earlier, the human had slammed headfirst into a wall and been knocked unconscious.

Smiling to himself, White crept silently behind the frantic girl. Before she even knew what was happening his hands closed vice-like around her neck.

Max struggled desperately against her captor. Her arms flailed about her body and her feet kicked madly in the air behind her. No use. White had the sense to keep her in the air several feet away from him. She couldn't reach.

"Put her down White," came a female voice behind them.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Oh come on people – be angels! Since you've bothered to read this much of my awful work, press that little purple button and make my day! Please!


End file.
